


Wondering

by Kangofu_CB



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Getting Back Together, M/M, New Year's Eve, mentions of drinking, mild roast angst, post canon au ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 02:57:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13226694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kangofu_CB/pseuds/Kangofu_CB
Summary: At Heero and Quatre's wedding reception, Trowa runs into someone he hadn't expected to see again.





	Wondering

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Remsyk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remsyk/gifts), [ClaraxBarton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaraxBarton/gifts).



> Happy New Year, Gundam Wing fandom! This is just a short little thing that was inspired by a Tumblr post and the holiday. 
> 
> Largely unbeta'd, so be kind, but I did go through and give it a second pass for corrections!
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

Trowa leaned against the edge of the wall separating the rooftop veranda from the sheer drop of a multistory fall from the roof and sighed.  The party was in full swing, the bar was free and full of expensive liquor, and the band was just starting up.

 

He was counting down the minutes until he could make a polite escape.

 

After toasts, surely, he wouldn’t be missed.

 

He took a sip from his glass, savoring the burn.

 

Trowa was happy for Heero.  He _was_.  He’d never harbored any secret longing for the other man, and he certainly wasn’t heartbroken over his matrimonial status.

 

He just couldn’t understand the _point_ of all this.  It was ostentatious.  It was unnecessary.

 

Pilot 01 had been deeply devoted to Quatre for years now, and the public spectacle that came along with marrying the Earth Sphere’s Most Eligible Bachelor was a bit much for Trowa’s liking.  

 

At least he’d asked Wufei to be his best man, sparing Trowa the excruciating necessity of public speaking and wondering what to say about two men who’d met in the midst of battle, piloting enormous machines of death.

 

Trowa snorted quietly to himself.  It would at least be an _entertaining_ speech.

 

“What’s so funny?”

 

The voice to his right was unexpected, and unexpectedly familiar.

 

Trowa turned in surprise to meet dancing violet eyes, one eyebrow raised in query.

 

He hadn’t laid eyes on Duo Maxwell in three years.  In fact, Trowa hadn’t know he’d even be in attendance, and he wondered if that were intentional or accidental on Heero’s part.  After all, they’d had a rather spectacular break up.

 

Ah, well, it was New Year’s Eve, after all.  A time for new beginnings.  

 

And it had been a long time ago.

 

“Contemplating the potential outcome of my having to give the best man speech instead of Wufei.”

 

Duo snorted into his own glass.  “Well, it woulda been interesting, anyway.”

 

Trowa felt the side of his mouth lift in the half-grin of amusement that Duo had so often inspired.  

 

When he hadn’t made Trowa want to pull his own hair out in frustration.

 

He considered the other man out of the corner of his eye.  Whilst Trowa had long since lost his tie, yanking it off and shoving it into his jacket pocket as soon as the ceremony was over and cocktail hour announced, Duo had likely never worn one in the first place.  Had always complained about how restricted they made him feel.  Choked. Like he couldn’t breathe.

 

Trowa figured it was a result of his time slowly suffocating on the Lunar Base, but he’d never asked.

 

Tonight, Duo was wearing a dark charcoal suit, with a lighter grey shirt, top button undone, a subtle pattern in the weave.  The wind was blowing loose strands of his hair around his face, and the dying light of the sun made it shine like gold and auburn fire.  He looked taller, tanner, and healthier than when Trowa had last seen him, stuffing what little he owned into a duffle in icy silence.

 

Clearly their time apart had been good for the other man.

 

Sighing, Trowa glanced out over the view of the city, the breeze picking up as darkness descended.

 

The silence between them was surprisingly comfortable.  Trowa had expected awkwardness, or would have, if he’d known to expect their meeting at all, but it felt natural.  Good.  Like a part of him he hadn’t known was missing had come back.

 

Duo leaned farther onto the ledge, his glass dangling over the edge, eyes on the horizon, and Trowa wondered what he was thinking.

 

“So,” Trowa said, finally, after draining the last of the amber liquor from the bottom of his glass in one burning swallow, “how are you?”

 

It earned him a quiet laugh, Duo turning to look at him, his amusement reflected in his eyes.  “I’m fine, Trowa, and how are you?”  His voice was the cultured, perfectly accentless tone he took at Quatre’s parties, at diplomatic functions, at times when he put on a polite company facade for everyone else’s benefit.

 

A mask.  Trowa had always hated it a bit, before, despite his own talent for infiltration.

 

Tonight, he found it fairly amusing.

 

Maybe it _was_ true that everyone grew up eventually.

 

Trowa turned sideways, leaning his elbow against the ledge and eyeing Duo more speculatively. Taking in the glimpse of a familiar collarbone, the way the jacket fit his broad shoulders.

 

Thought about taking a trip down memory lane.

 

“What have you been doing with yourself Duo?”

 

The other man turned around, putting his back to the drop behind them, leaning on his elbows and tilted his head back to look at the sky, where the stars were just starting to peek out as the last rays of the sun disappeared over the horizon.  He gestured vaguely with his glass at the vast expanse.

 

Trowa didn’t look.  

 

Instead he looked at the ends of Duo’s hair, caught in a loose tail at the base of his neck, trail along his back to brush against the concrete ledge.  

 

“Spent some time with Howard, y’know.”  

 

Trowa hadn’t known, but he’d guessed.  That Duo would go back to the only other person he’d considered family.

 

Duo turned to look at him, his eyes more difficult to make out in the low light, here at the periphery of the festivities, where the strings of lights and dance floor lamps didn’t quite reach.  Trowa felt the gaze like a hot caress across his skin.

 

Maybe he wasn’t the only one considering their past.

 

“Then I wandered for a bit, y’know, seeing the sights, checkin’ out the world I helped save or whatever.”  Duo said the words flippantly, and Trowa couldn’t help the noise of amusement that escaped.  

 

They were the so-called ‘Heroes of the Eve Wars’, though their identities had never been made public, and they all received a bit of a pension from the new government as ‘colonial freedom fighters’.  Trowa hoarded his in an offshore account, but he figured that’s what Duo had used to fund his little jaunt around the globe.

 

That also explained the faint tan, a warm glow that spoke of sunny beaches and tropical breezes.

 

“What about you?”

 

Trowa shrugged, uncomfortable for the first time.  He hadn’t done much of anything since Duo had gone.  He’d long ago declined a position at Preventers, had gone back to school instead.  “Still working on my degree.”

 

Duo brightened at his answer.  “The vet thing?”

 

Trowa nodded, fiddling with his empty glass.

 

“That’s great, Tro.  That’s what you wanted!”  He sounded genuinely pleased, warm and quietly enthusiastic, and Trowa felt something in his chest loosen.  He’d missed this, missed Duo’s certain assurance that Trowa could manage anything he attempted.

 

He hadn’t missed the verbal barbs or the volatile emotions or the epic arguments.  But he’d missed the warmer, quieter times.

 

They had been two very young men, broken and bruised, both with enough baggage to fill multiple train compartments, and neither of them with enough experience or sense to sort themselves out before pursuing each other.

 

It had ended bitterly, but there had never been any questions about the authenticity of their feelings.  

 

Just their ability to act on them appropriately.

 

This meeting felt different.  Duo seemed settled, less manic.  Warm and open and genuinely happy to see him.

 

And Trowa couldn’t deny that seeing the other man soothed a private ache in his chest, one he’d grown so used to he’d almost forgotten it was there.  

 

Duo shifted, managing to move himself a step or two closer, Trowa able to feel the the ghost of his body heat.  Or maybe it was his imagination.  Their arms nearly brushed along the ledge, Trowa’s fingers centimeters from Duo’s arm.

 

He twitched in an aborted reflex to reach for the other man.

 

Shifting closer wasn’t exactly an invitation to touch.

 

Near the center of the room, there was the faint clinking of glass that symbolized the beginning of a toast, and the murmur of voices in the party simmered down to near-silence as Wufei stood at the front of the small dance floor, just off to the side of the happy couple.   He cleared his throat, glancing around, and began to speak.

 

They were just far enough away that Trowa couldn’t _quite_ make out the words, though there was the occasional ripple of laughter in the crowd, and even at a distance Trowa could see Quatre’s fair skin redden in a spectacular blush at one point.

 

He supposed that _could_ be the story of the time Wufei had walked in on them in his and Heero’s shared office at the main Preventers’ branch, but he doubted it.

 

That was a story Duo would tell, not Wufei.

 

Duo snorted.

 

He raised his glass to his lips to take a camouflaging sip and muttered -

 

“It’s a story about how Quatre spilled something on himself at lunch before a meeting, and Heero offering the literal shirt off his back.”

 

He’d forgotten the other man could read lips - impressively well, given the distance.

 

Trowa rolled his eyes.

 

Heero should have let him give the speech anyway.

 

Duo reached out, dumping half of his remaining drink into Trowa’s empty glass.  At his questioning look, the long-haired man shrugged.  

 

“He’s almost done.  It’s bad luck to toast with an empty glass.”

 

Sure enough, a minute or two later, Wufei raised his glass in clear invitation, and at the back of the party, Duo and Trowa silently raised theirs in response, tiling their glasses back to finish the drinks.

 

“Well,” Trowa began, intending to tell Duo of his intention to leave after the toast, entertaining the idea of asking the other man if he had plans, when one of Quatre’s sisters stepped up to take the mic from Wufei with clear intention to give her own toast.

 

“Well, shit.” Duo surmised.

 

Trowa choked back a laugh.

 

“Let’s get out of here,” the other man muttered, tugging Trowa along behind him as he made for the stairs near their small, quiet corner, the red exit light nearly camouflaged behind a large, potted tree.

 

Trust Duo to know where all the exits were.

 

He’d twined his fingers with Trowa’s, perhaps out of habit, or maybe intentionally, but either way, it was like coming home, their palms fitting together exactly how Trowa remembered.  Warm and dry and calloused and perfect.

 

They moved down two flights of stairs, silent, hands linked, before Duo lead them through another fire exit to the inside of the building, just beside the elevator bank.

 

Trowa snorted in amusement.

 

Duo turned to look at him as he hit the down button, question on his face.

 

“Always have an escape route planned?” Trowa asked, lightly, the smile on his face making it clear he was joking.  It was the sort of joke that might have caused friction in the past, but tonight he didn’t think so.

 

Duo’s fingers were still curling between his own, and he made no move to pull away.

 

He winked at Trowa, grin spreading across his face.  

 

They rode the elevator down in silence, exiting at street level and pushing their way through the wide glass doors to the sidewalk.

 

Duo paused a few feet down the sidewalk, Trowa still trailing along beside him, to look up at Trowa thoughtfully, before glancing down at their hands, and then back up.

 

“Hey Tro?”

 

Trowa returned his gaze.  “Yeah?” he asked, and it was a bit apprehensive, a bit hesitant.

 

“What’re you doin’ for New Year’s Eve?”

 

He laughed out loud, before squeezing the hand joined to his.  “Skipping my best friend’s wedding reception, apparently.”

 

Duo’s smile turned mischievous and he sidled closer.  “Yeah?  Well, turns out I’m doin’ the same thing.  Wanna do it together?”

 

Trowa glanced up to the top of the building, just able to make out the lights of the party, the faint strains of music drifting down.  He looked back down at Duo’s face, quietly hopeful.

 

“Sounds good to me,” he said, finally, felt the smile stretch across his face.

 

“Good,” Duo decided.  He turned away, pulling Trowa along again.  “Besides,” he called over his shoulder, shooting Trowa a quick glance.  “I need someone to kiss at midnight.”

 


End file.
